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Hillel Silverman, longtime rabbi whose congregant killed JFK’s assassin, is dead at 99
(JTA) — “If you want to know about my brother, Jack Ruby, you should talk to Hillel Silverman. He was our rabbi in Dallas for 10 years before President Kennedy’s assassination, and he knew Jack very well.”
It was 1976, and I had convinced Eva Rubenstein Grant — a loud woman with an even louder red wig — to appear on an ABC program to speak about her brother, who fatally shot John F. Kennedy’s alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald on live television 13 years earlier.
It was years, however, before I was able to speak to Rabbi Silverman, for a TV program I was producing about the JFK assassination. Our conversation in 1991 was the first of several chats we had about Ruby (and other topics) and the glancing role Silverman played in the national trauma surrounding the president’s murder. He was one of the last surviving witnesses who testified in 1964 before the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination.
The Kennedy assassination was a relatively minor aspect of a 70-year career in the rabbinate, during which Silverman served as the founding rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in Dallas, and then as the senior rabbi at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles for 16 years, among other pulpits.
Silverman, the son of a prominent Conservative rabbi, died in Los Angeles this week of pneumonia at the age of 99. It was one month after he celebrated his birthday — and the birth of a great-grandson and the upcoming wedding of a grandchild — at Valley Beth Shalom in Los Angeles, where in his last official role he served as a visiting scholar.
Silverman was spiritual leader of Shearith Israel in Dallas from 1954 to 1964; Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner with links to the Mafia, was one of his congregants. Silverman told me in 2013, on the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy and Oswald murders, that Ruby would attend services to say Kaddish, the memorial prayer, for his father.
“He came to the minyan one day with a cast on his arm,” Silverman recalled. “I said, Jack, what happened? He said, ‘In my club, somebody was very raucous, and I was the bouncer.’”
Nov. 22, 1963, the day Oswald shot and killed Kennedy, was a Friday. Evening services at the synagogue “became a memorial service for the president,” Silverman said. “Jack was there. People were either irate or in tears, and Jack was neither. He came over and said, ‘Good Shabbos, rabbi. Thank you for visiting my sister Eva in the hospital last week.’ I thought that was rather peculiar.”
Two days later, Silverman switched on the radio and heard that a “Jack Rubenstein” had just killed the alleged assassin. The Warren Commission would later come to the still-disputed conclusion that Ruby acted alone — quashing rumors of a conspiracy — and shot Oswald on impulse and out of grief over Kennedy’s assassination.
“I was shocked. I visited him the next day in jail, and I said ‘Why, Jack, why?’ He said, ‘I did it for the American people.’”
I interrupted Silverman at that point, as I’d read other reports in which Ruby said he did it “to show that Jews had guts.” The rabbi sighed. “Yes, he mentioned that. But I don’t like to mention it. I think he said, ‘I did it for the Jewish people.’ But I’ve tried to wipe that statement from my mind.”
Silverman vividly described his weekly jailhouse visits to his now-notorious congregant, who was found guilty of murdering Oswald and who died in prison from lung cancer four years after the assassination. “In prison, Jack deteriorated psychologically,” Silverman recalled. “One time I walked in and he said, ‘Come on, rabbi, duck underneath the table. They’re pouring oil on the Jews and setting it on fire.’ He was quite psychotic.”
Jack Ruby, right, shoots Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Nov. 25, 1963. (Dallas Times Herald)
Hillel Emanuel Silverman was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1924 to Althea, a prolific author, and Rabbi Morris Silverman, a prominent Conservative rabbi who edited the Shabbat and High Holiday prayer books used by the movement for more than half a century.
Hillel was ordained as a Conservative rabbi after graduating from Yale University. Following his service as a Navy chaplain during the Korean War, he led the congregations in Dallas and Los Angeles, and served 20 years as a spiritual leader of Temple Sholom in Greenwich, Connecticut.
He and his first wife Devora had three children: Gila Rutta, Dr. Sharon Pollock and Jonathan Silverman, the actor best known for films such as “Weekend at Bernie’s” and “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” He is survived by his wife of over 40 years, Roberta Silverman, his three children, three step-children (David Smotrich, Debbie Diamond and Arona Smotrich), 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Silverman wrote or co-edited a dozen books, and during a visit when he was 95 told me, “I think I still have one more in me.” He was the recipient of numerous awards, including a Medal of Honor from Israel’s then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin for his “distinguished service to Israel and the Jewish people.” He was past president of the Zionist Organization of America, Southwest Region.
In his 90s, he continued to officiate at High Holiday services in southern California, at times with one of his grandchildren, Rabbi Matt Rutta.
When the COVID pandemic shut down in-person classes, Silverman conducted weekly online Torah study sessions with Rabbi Ed Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom synagogue. Sharp-eyed participants would notice a movie poster on the wall behind Silverman for “Weekend at Bernie’s II,” in which he appeared briefly as a restaurant maitre d’.
My final visit with Rabbi Silverman took place last October. He was in a wheelchair, living with his daughter Sharon and son-in-law Mark, and his mind and sense of humor remained as sharp as ever. Last month, I was thrilled to receive a birthday email from him, recalling our discussions about Ruby and wishing me continued success in my career. “Since I am thirty years ahead of you, I can guarantee many more productive, enjoyable years!” he wrote.
During his final hospitalization, a family member at his bedside asked about the rabbi’s former congregant one last time: Did Ruby have anything to do with a conspiracy?
The family shared a video of that moment with me, in which Silverman adjusts his oxygen mask, shakes his head and firmly says, “No!”
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Berlin Court Jails 4 Men in Landmark Hamas Weapons Case, First German Ruling Treating Membership as Terror Offense
Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Four men were sentenced to prison in Berlin on Wednesday for operating a covert Hamas weapons-stockpiling network across Europe in preparation for potential terrorist attacks — a landmark ruling marking the first time a German court convicted members of the Palestinian terrorist group under the country’s terrorism laws.
The Berlin State Protection Senate — a special national-security chamber within the Berlin Court of Appeal — convicted the defendants of stockpiling weapons for future attacks in Europe, including possible targets in Germany, sentencing them to four and a half to six years in prison for membership in a foreign terrorist organization and related charges.
The court determined the men, aged 36 to 58, had acted as foreign operatives for Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, and had already helped establish several firearms caches across Europe.
According to official records, the defendants helped build weapons depots as part of “preparations to carry out attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets in European countries,” with possible targets including the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, the US Ramstein Air Base in southwestern Germany, and Berlin’s former Tempelhof airport.
German authorities also found the stockpiles were meant for attacks on Israeli, Jewish, or other targets across Europe over an extended period, with sites discovered in multiple countries including Poland, Bulgaria, and Denmark.
Although all four denied being members of Hamas, the main defendant admitted to visiting an arms cache in Bulgaria, claiming the trip was part of “private arms dealing.”
Arrested in December 2023, the four men — all Lebanese-born, including an Egyptian and a Dutch citizen — have been in custody since then, with three having lived primarily in Germany and the fourth in the Netherlands.
Hamas, long supported by the Iranian regime as well as Qatar and Turkey, is designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union and several other Western countries, including the United States.
However, the terrorist group has not been officially classified as such under German law, making Wednesday’s ruling especially important because it sets a legal precedent allowing membership in the group to be treated as a criminal offense.
“It’s a clear and important ruling by the Berlin Court of Appeal, even though we know that it does not in itself reduce the danger of terrorist attacks,” Stephan Weh, Berlin police union chief, said in a statement.
“As a Western metropolis, Berlin remains a focal point for radical Islamist networks, which today primarily recruit new members and supporters via social media,” he continued.
In recent months, German authorities have arrested several more suspects tied to alleged Hamas arms-procurement efforts, with the weapons said to be intended for attacks on Israeli or Jewish sites in Germany and across Europe.
In November, federal prosecutors uncovered and arrested a suspected Hamas terrorist cell with at least five members accused of plotting attacks on Israeli or Jewish targets.
Hamas has repeatedly denied any connection to these criminal networks, calling the allegations of its involvement “baseless.”
However, experts have warned that the group has expanded its terrorist operations beyond the Middle East, exploiting a well-established network of weapons caches, criminal alliances, and covert infrastructure quietly built across Europe over the years.
Last year, West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center released a study detailing how Hamas leaders in Lebanon have been directing operatives to establish “foreign operator’ cells across Europe, collaborating with organized crime networks to acquire weapons and target Jewish communities abroad.
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Iran Suggests Spain Can Have Safe Passage Through Strait of Hormuz
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a press conference after attending a special summit of European Union leaders to discuss transatlantic relations, in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
Iran indicated on Thursday that Spain would be allowed safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz if it requested access, praising the Spanish government for its hostile posture toward the US-Israeli military campaign.
“BREAKING NEWS: Iran considers Spain a country committed to international law, so it shows receptiveness to any request coming from Madrid. #StraitofHormuz,” the Iranian embassy posted on the social media platform X.
ÚLTIMA HORA: Irán considera a España un país comprometido con el derecho internacional, por lo que se muestra receptivo ante cualquier solicitud procedente de Madrid.#EstrechoDeOrmuz pic.twitter.com/WZjwCPB7CK
— Embajada de Irán en España (@IraninSpain) March 26, 2026
The post came after Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday told the United Nations that “non-hostile vessels” could transit the strait, a critical waterway for shipping through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows, if they coordinated with Iranian authorities.
Iran has effectively closed the strait amid its war with the US and Israel, causing global oil and gas prices to rise significantly. According to the Iranian regime, ships linked to the US and Israel, as well as “other participants in the aggression,” will not be granted safe passage.
However, amid ongoing indirect negotiations between Tehran and Washington over potentially halting the conflict, US President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that Iran let 10 oil tankers transit the Strait of Hormuz as a goodwill gesture, elaborating on what he had described as a “present” from Iran. Meanwhile, the US military has reportedly been working on plans to reopen the waterway by force if needed.
Spain, which has a relatively small merchant fleet, is the first EU country to apparently be offered safe passage through the narrow strait off Iran’s coast.
On Thursday, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said he did not understand what Iran was referring to in its social media post on X, noting Madrid had consistently voted in favor of sanctions against Iran. Recently, Spain voted to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Iranian military force primarily threatening ships seeking to transit the Strait of Horuz, as a terrorist organization.
“What we ask of Iran and all of those participating and promoting the war is de-escalation, diplomacy, and negotiation, and that Iran ceases its unjustified attacks against all the countries in the Middle East,” Albares said during a visit to Algeria.
Thursday was not the first time since Feb. 28, when the war began, that Iran praised Spain.
Earlier this month, Spain blocked US forces from using its bases for military operations against the Islamic regime, leaving Madrid as the only major EU country to have explicitly criticized the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
In response to an online news report saying that the Spanish government “denies that the US is using its bases in Spain for the war against Iran,” the Iranian embassy in Spain reshared the headline and added, “Iran fully recognizes and respects this position, which is in accordance with international law.”
While Spain has strongly condemned the US-Israeli attack on Iranian regime targets, other European countries have denounced Iran’s counterstrikes on civilian sites across the Middle East.
Trump has lambasted Spain for its stance, even threatening to cut off trade.
“I think they’re not cooperating at all. Spain. I think they’ve been very bad, very bad, not good at all. We may cut off trade with Spain,” Trump told reporters earlier this month, adding that Madrid has been “very bad to NATO” and does not want to “pay their fair share.”
Spain quickly condemned the strikes against Iran after they began, calling them “dangerous” and “outside of international law.”
Israel accused Spain of “standing with tyrants” for opposing the war.
Since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel started the Gaza war, Spain has been one of Israel’s fiercest critics on the international stage.
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ADL Releases ‘Leaderboard’ Ranking Popular Video Games and Their Efforts to Combat Antisemitism
“Fortnite,” a game accessed by over 25 million users a day, being played on a mobile phone. Photo: Public Domain
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released on Wednesday an Online Gaming Leaderboard that ranks popular video games on how effectively their policies and in-game safety features curb antisemitism, hatred, and extremism in their online multiplayer games.
The video games were ranked based on their “advanced,” “moderate,” or “limited” protections. The assessment was made using criteria, assembled by the ADL, that examine policies to prevent antisemitism and hate (40 percent of the score) and in-game tooling to prevent antisemitism and hate (60 percent of the score).
Fortnite was rated the best at implementing safeguards to combat antisemitism, following by Call of Duty, Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto Online, Roblox, Madden NFL, Valorent, Clash Royale, Counter-Strike 2, and PUBG: Battlegrounds.
The ADL said it has conducted the first-ever detailed public evaluation of video games and how their safety measures address the issues of antisemitism, hate, and extremism in online gaming environments. The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) provides age and content guidance but does not assess what video game companies are doing to keep players safe from hate and harassment during their online gaming experience.
The Online Gaming Leaderboard was co-produced by the ADL Center for Technology and Society (CTS) and the Ratings and Assessments Institute (RAI). The former, in partnership with gaming analytics firm NewZoo, surveyed hate, harassment, and extremism in online games in the US from 2019 to 2023 and those findings provided “the foundation for the evaluation,” according to the ADL.
“When a parent wants to know if an online game is safe for their child, there has been no one-stop shop to understand how a particular game approaches online safety,” said Daniel Kelley, senior director of CTS. “This leaderboard addresses that critical gap by offering the most comprehensive evaluation of safety measures in online multiplayer games to date, with a focus on how companies manage antisemitism and extremism.”
“Without strong safeguards, these platforms can become breeding grounds for harassment and hateful activity that harms players directly, normalizes hateful ideologies and damages trust,” added Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the ADL. “This leaderboard provides the transparency that parents, gamers, and the industry need to understand where companies are succeeding and where urgent improvements are necessary.”
The ADL said it privately shared its findings with each gaming company before publicly releasing the Online Gaming Leaderboard on Wednesday. Some companies “engaged with ADL to clarify issues or make improvements to their policies and tooling, while others did not respond.” The ADL also developed a Best Practices Guide for gaming companies that provides strategies for how they can better combat antisemitism and hate.